Earth, the only planet in our entire solar system, and apparently in the Universe, to inhabit life and we should be thankful for that, is the home to several million living species. Many times you have heard about people addressing our Earth as the ‘blue planet.’
No cat owner has ever tried to bathe a cat without getting scratches all over their arms. Like many other cat behaviors, their aversion to water is also all too famous and all too mysterious. We examine the possible causes behind cats’ hatred of water.
In childhood we read in our geography books that three fourth of our earth consists of water bodies. We live on the one fourth that is left. Though there is so much water out there we can barely use 1% of it for drinking, bathing, cultivation and industrial work. This is because the amount of fresh water compared to the total amount of water on earth is negligible. Most of the water bodies consist of saline water which we cannot drink or use for different daily purposes. Most of us have been blessed to have water at our beck and call but there are millions of people for whom fresh and clean drinking or bathing water is a privilege.
Water is synonymous to life and the importance of drinking water cannot be emphasized enough. Water is one of the main constituents of our body and this is evident from the fact that 60% of our body is water. To keep the governing center of our body, the brain, hydrated we need to drink water because 70% of the brain is made of water. Every cell and the blood need water for maintaining the right pressure and balance inside our body. The very first living organism originated in the water of ocean. One of the most vital functions of water is to help in excretion. It removes the harmful toxins and chemicals from our body. If we drink little or no water then we will face problems in urination and fall ill.
The universe is filled with many unexplained phenomenon blended with unraveled mysteries and one major part of this unexplained phenomenon is played by planet Earth. There are many unknown facts about earth and its life sustaining atmosphere. One such fact is why only earth has water and not the other planets. Billions of years have passed, but still no other planet can apparently sustain life like earth does, but why only earth?
The first poem of their lives learnt by most Indian children is about fish. The English rendition of the poem would say, “fish is the queen of water bodies, its life is water, if you will touch it, it will be frightened and if you will take it out, it will die.”
Water wastage is quite common. Most of the people believe that there is enough water on the Earth and hence wasting is no crime. Those people do not realize that though 97% of the earth is covered with water but unfortunately that water is not drinkable. Only 3% water on Earth is fresh-water and can be used for drinking purpose. Out of this 3%, 70% is in the form of glaciers and icecaps and hence cannot be reached. The remaining water that is underground is mere 0.3% of total fresh water. This is the water we get in our homes and use it for various purposes from brushing our teeth to drinking to washing our cars.
